Saturday, November 27, 2010

How I wore it: the winter of my discontent*

*Did I ever mention that before I fell in love with Sanskrit/Indology I dreamed of being a Shakespeare professor? I'm cool.

Folks, it's officially Cold. I have to start remembering to have gloves with me when I leave the home and I'm starting to think wistful thoughts about hats. Dammit. It's okay. Now that I don't have a dress code, I can wear boots (and pants) every damn day of the week and actually keep warm, as opposed to strategizing the best possible tights+skirt+shoe+temperature combination.

(I keep meaning to write a post about my previous job's dress code and why it made us so antsy. One day, people...)

Anyways, today was a super low-key day. My husband and I decided to meet up with one of his colleagues and her husband and child (who happens to be one of my tutees) for Mexican food (mmmmmm...) and chatting. With my outfit, I opted for comfort rather than pizzazz:

WHAT could be so interesting in my husband's closet?!

There's...really not much to say about this. I still love wearing leggings (the corduroy ones from HUE are so awesome and WARM), but once I look at the photographic evidence, I feel self-conscious about my thighs. In person, I look down and feel sassy and good about myself, but once I take my pictures, I'm all, "Hi, She-Hulk, thanks for stopping by." I also think I need to take a class on proportions. 

Also, I'm feeling a bit in a rut. Because I really don't leave the home that often, I've been really relying on my comfort clothes (tunic+skinny pants of some sort+boots) when I do leave the house, because my outings tend to be quite banal. I think it's time to fancy it up a little for next week's tutoring sessions. Right on! 

That being said, as mentioned earlier, I did like my outfit quite a lot "in person" rather than on camera. I know that this happens quite often to me: fellow bloggers - and people who document their outfits - do you ever get that as well? I really was comfy and mobile and, in the end, it was the perfect outfit in which to curl up while watching the "Great Migrations" walrus (and other animals) episode a few hours later... 

[This might be a good moment to mention that I adore nature documentaries. And walruses are my favorite animal. When you combine these elements, plus show a mommy walrus giving her one-day-old pup a swimming lesson, you get a perfect Saturday afternoon.]

Scarf: Urban Outfitters, remixed
Green cardigan: gift from mom, by way of Lord and Taylor (New York), remixed
Black shirt: Tony's, a boutique in Philly's Old City, remixed
'Putty' corduroy leggings: HUE, by way of Lord and Taylor (Boston), remixed
Grey boots: Frye Paige Huaraches, by way of endless.com, remixed

8 comments:

  1. It happens to me often. I see picture and my bubble is forever popped. The problem I find with leggings as pants on myself is that they are so close to the body I equate it to being naked (I'm aware that's a stretch) but I get all self conscious that I'm running around naked. On other I never think that and as a moderately intelligent person I know my logic is insanely flawed but aren't we are own worst critics?
    If you are self conscious but you like the look how would a little mini skirt added help? because i am considering copying this with just that.
    I call manatees and walruses and seals blorples.

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  2. A much better word than "pinniped."

    Yeah, a mini might help - if I cover the broadest part of my thighs (which I sometimes do with short winter shorts), I usually feel less self-conscious. Unfortunately, I don't own any little skirts. Excuse to go shopping...?

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  3. This is a go-to outfit for me as well - legging, boots, longish top, scarf. So comfortable and easy.
    I know what you mean about liking something in person but not in a photograph. It's happened to me a lot lately! I think that photographs can really help to figure out what works but I also think that they don't always do justice to a person/outfit - somebody once told me that people look much better in person than they do in photographs, photos are 2 dimensional and don't really capture one's essence... or something like that ;)

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  4. I'd like to agree with that. I read something like that, too. I know that Sal (from Already Pretty) has once said some wise words about photography vs. real life...I can't remember when, though!

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  5. Photographs add 10 pounds. I can't remember where I know that from (similar to the camera adding 10 pounds in tv and film, which is why starlets are so painfully skinny, at least I hope that's the reason). I don't know what the mathematical formula is for this statement but I think it must ring true because I am always horrified by my photos and I'm sure that there is something lost in translation. That said, you look comfy. Corduroy leggings? That seems to be cozy squared (to continue with the math). I don't wear leggings because I am too too self-conscious but I think that I am generally ridiculous. No one should do what I do. I like this outfit and I think how you felt in it has to trump a photograph.

    I am also a closet Shakespeareanist. I wish the sun of York would shine here.

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  6. Hee hee! I've also heard the camera adding 10 pounds thing and I'm going to make that my mantra from now on.

    This is my first autumn/winter wearing leggings (at least since sixth grade) and I'm learning, slowly and painfully, how to deal with them.

    Thanks for the comment!

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  7. I like outfits (and my face) in person better almost all of the time. Sometimes I almost can't believe I'm look at a picture of the outfit that I'm wearing and LOVING, because the picture makes it look like I have no concept of proportions.

    I can have a camera right by or in front of a mirror, and be *looking in the mirror* while I take the picture, and the pictures still turn out totally unlike how I think they should. In the mirror I think I look fantastic, but in the photo I look like an ogre or a whale. I can't figure it out. But I've learned to trust my mirror more than my camera, at least!

    (P.S. Nature documentaries are the best! I recently watched one about beavers - did you know that there are some other little mice and things that live in beaver dams with the beavers all winter? They pretty much mooch off of the beavers' food and shelter.)

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  8. It's so wonderful to know that it isn't my own paranoia! Damn you, cameras!

    (And I didn't know about the beaver dams! Awwwwwww. The documentary I saw on Saturday also featured a baby zebra and his daddy and dead mommy and I totally bawled.)

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